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UMD Libraries announces availability of Africa Commons database

Africa Commons provides access to millions of pages of primary source content to the university community.

Africa Commons logo

Through the University of Maryland Libraries, Africa Commons: History and Culture is now available to UMD faculty, staff and students. This resource, produced by Coherent Digital, is made available as part of our participation in the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Collective Investment Program (CIP, formerly Large Scale Acquisitions program). Africa Commons provides access to millions of pages of full-text primary source content to all BTAA member libraries, including the University of Maryland Libraries.

You can access Africa Commons: History and Culture by searching its title in Database Finder.

Africa Commons: History and Culture is a project to digitize, enrich, protect, and disseminate African cultural content. The project includes a growing, landmark directory of archives, libraries, museums, galleries, other cultural organizations within the continent of Africa, and organizations outside of Africa with significant African holdings. More than one million cultural artifacts, across 250+ openly available collections, are covered in this resource.

Please note that the materials in this database span several centuries and may contain content that is harmful, offensive, or difficult to view. Coherent Digital presents this content in Africa Commons as part of the historical record so they can help society understand and learn from the past.

Additionally, the Libraries has recently gained access to the database African American Newspapers in the South 1870-1926 produced by Accessible Archives through the Libraries’ membership in the Big Ten Academic Alliance. This resource can be accessed by searching its title in Database Finder.

If you have any questions about accessing these resources, please email libcshelp@umd.edu.

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